Minnesota terror defendant gets sentence reduced to 10 years

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota man who was recently sentenced for plotting to join the Islamic State group has had his prison time reduced from 15 years to 10.

Hamza Ahmed was sentenced earlier this month to consecutive sentences for one count of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and one count of financial aid fraud.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that his sentences should run concurrently instead, so the 21-year-old will be locked up for 10 years, followed by 20 years of supervised release.

Ahmed was one of nine men in Minnesota's large Somali community who prosecutors say were part of a group of friends who inspired and recruited each other to join the militant group. Some of their friends made it to Syria.